On Saturday 11 March, the Southern Kings played host to the Stormers from Cape Town in their third game of the 2017 Super Rugby season. The last time these two sides met, the Stormers ran a 52-24 victory over the Kings in Newlands.
On Saturday 11 March, the Southern Kings played host to the Stormers from Cape Town in their third game of the 2017 Super Rugby season. The last time these two sides met, the Stormers ran a 52-24 victory over the Kings in Newlands.
The Kings were hoping to continue their form from the previous round, which saw them come home from Singapore with a 37-23 victory against the Sunwolves. The conditions in Port Elizabeth were perfect for a 3 o’clock kickoff.
The Stormers dominated the first half, despite some early pressure from the Kings. The Stormers managed to cross the whitewash three times in the first half, through Dyllin Leyds, Bjorn Basson and Rynhardt Elstadt. Robert du Preez converted the Basson try, while Lionel Cronje slotted the Kings only points of the first half through a penalty early in the game. At half time, the score was Kings 3-17 Stormers.
The Stormers and the Kings continued to show intent throughout the second half. The Kings continued to look threatening on attack, however, several handling errors stopped the attacking flow of the home side. The Stormers ultimately outscored the hosts in the second half by three tries, through Robert du Preez, Justin Phillips and EW Viljoen, to one from Makazole Mpimpi of the Kings. All conversions in the second half were converted, as well as a penalty from du Preez. The final whistle blew with the score Kings 10-41 Stormers.
After the match, Kings coach Deon Davids congratulated the Stormers on their win. “It’s all about using your opportunities and I think on the day they just did that better than us”, Davids said.
“I think we were in the game until there was ten minutes left,” Davids said, adding, “ we had ample opportunities to really get back into it but we didn’t capitalize on our opportunities”.
“We had one or two scrums in the opposition half on our own ball that we didn’t use effectively, which we lost, so I think we can improve much on our scrums,” Davids added.
“We never stopped believing that we can compete, from the start we were right in there, we did the right stuff. We defended well and I think we had some good moments with the ball in hand,” Davids said, stating that there were positives to take into their next game.
The Kings will now travel to Durban to face the Sharks at Kings Park on Saturday 18 March, before returning to take on 2016 runners-up, the Lions in Port Elizabeth on Saturday 25 March.
Scorers:
Kings:
Tries: Makazole Mapimpi
Conversions: Lionel Cronje
Penalties: Lionel Cronje
Stormers:
Tries: Dillyn Leyds, Bjorn Basson, Rynhardt Elstadt, Robert du Preez, Justin Phillips, EW Viljoen
Conversions: Robert du Preez x2, Kurt Coleman x2
Penalties: Robert du Preez
